


August 15th

by AngstyTrashcan



Category: AFTER LIFE 소원을 담는 만화경 | AFTER LIFE: The Sacred Kaleidoscope (Visual Novel)
Genre: Angst, Happy KagePro Day, Kagerou Daze - Freeform, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:20:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25915759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngstyTrashcan/pseuds/AngstyTrashcan
Summary: It all started on August 15. A never-ending cycle of death and sorrow.
Relationships: Theo/June
Comments: 4
Kudos: 13





	August 15th

**Author's Note:**

> Happy KagePro Day, everyone! I promise you that I'll try to post some fluff of these two for once ^^"
> 
> I used Will Stetson's lyric translations for this one.

_'August 15th at 12 afternoon_

_Not a single cloud had stained the sky so bright and blue_

_Such a mellow hue'_

Theo looked at his phone, revealing the lockscreen with the time and date of today.

 _August 15th, 12:00pm_.

He was sitting on one of the swings at the park near his apartment with his classmate, June. Today was a Saturday and June, even though Theo said no a thousand of times, insisted the brunette to come and hangout with him.

Theo had no choice but to accept. The determination in the orange haired boy's voice indicated he wouldn't stop asking unless he finally accepts the invite.

Either way, he needed a breather after being cooped up in his room to study. Old habits die hard is what he thought every time he studied. The scar of his past is still present.

_'Those days with nothing to do I had sat within the park so calmly next to you_

_And swaying to and fro we had chatted softly burning through our youth'_

June was next to him, swaying slowly on the swing as he lightly kicked on the ground. He's been talking ever since they took a break from running. The summer's heat slowly gets to them.

 _“But I’m done… I really hate the summer sun.”_ was what Theo understood while he was lost in his own thoughts.

_'You said and softly pet a cat you found_

_On the streets of the town looking down on your luck'_

The brunette glanced over at the former. The cat June called to while they were on their run followed him and decided to stay with him. Its fur was dark as midnight and eyes yellow like the stars. 

He didn't like that cat one bit.

Sure, it was his clean instinct kicking in for the fact that it was a stray and you know how dirty they could be, but there was something else. Something he couldn't quite pinpoint at.

Nonetheless, he said nothing as the orange haired boy cradled it in his arms, softly petting its head happily.

June's eyes met his, blinking twice before flashing him a cheerful smile. Theo couldn't help but smile back. 

"We should head back." Theo suggested and got up from the swing, eyes fixated on June as he waited for the other to get up as well.

"Okay! I'll be keeping Tune!" June exclaimed, carefully getting up from the swing with the cat, now named Tune, in his arms.

"You named him Tune?" The brunette let out a snicker at how adorable the name was.

"Well..if I combine both our names together. Theo and June. That makes Tune!" June stated, a faint blush present on his cheeks.

Theo's cheeks flushed a bright pink, blaming it on the summer heat instead of the flustered feeling he felt.

They made their way out of the park and to the street.

_'Ah, the cat had broken from your arms'_

Suddenly, Tune leaped out of June's arms. The both of them were caught off guard as they watched the cat run across the street.

"Tune wait!" The orange haired boy called out, running after it.

_'And chasing after it, you found yourself_

_In the street there as well'_

Theo watched as June made his way to the middle of the street, trying to catch Tune and before he knew it...

_'As the traffic lights had showed that you had gone too far'_

The traffic light turned red and an upcoming truck was making its way down the street where June was.

"JUNE!" Theo yelled, his hand holding out to try grabbing him away but the boy was too far for him to reach.

"Huh?" was the boy's response before his eyes were met with metal. The honking noise of the truck enveloping his ears.

_'Suddenly the streets were painted red_

_As I screamed at the stain that used to be my friend'_

The brunette's eyes widened in horror. He couldn't move. It was like he was frozen. Nothing came out of his mouth even if his mind was yelling out June's name. 

June's body laid on the cold ground that was now decorated in his own blood, motionless as a shock expression was present on his face with cold eyes that stayed open staring at nothing.

His blood was splattered all throughout the area. On the front of the truck. On the street. The traffic light. On Theo's clothes.

The truck came to a stop right when it hit June. Nothing but a gruesome car accident..

An event you can't rewind.

_'Sweet you had smelled to me now blood dripping agony_

_It strangled my mind and every thought intensely'_

The air smelled nothing but blood and metal. It was sickening. The scene before him mentally tormenting him as he stood there, his hands over his nose and mouth to block the distasteful smell.

Tears developed on the corner of his eyes, not believing what had just happened just now. 

Maybe this was all just a dream? Just a nightmare? He'll wake up soon, right?

_'Haze of lies sunk deep so far beneath the eyes_

_Turned and laughed as the clouds had covered the sky'_

The cat sat on the other side of the road, staring at Theo with its yellow eyes. 

Like it was mocking him. 

Beside it was a version of the brunette, smiling with amusement at the start of something horrifying.

 _Just what the hell is happening_? He asked to himself until the once clear blue sky slowly turned grey as clouds started blocking the sun's rays.

_'Cries of cicadas now had died in their final bow_

_The world around me was twisted as I broke out'_

He felt nauseous.

Could it be from the smell of blood or the many thoughts that attacked his mind? 

It didn't matter because both were true.

His vision was getting hazy as the version of him mouthed something he couldn't understand before his vision turned black.

——

In a dark world, there laid a wall filled with round clocks all ticking and moving at the same time. The clone of him covered one of them in red with a sad glint in its eyes.

——

_'Worn out in my bed I had woke_

_From a dreadful sleepless night more real than I know'_

Theo's eyes shot open as he sat up in a cold sweat. He frantically looked around and checked his surroundings. 

He was in his room? But he was at the park..

Was it all a dream after all?

_'Where’d the hours go?'_

He grabbed his phone and checked the date and time.

_August 14th, 11:20pm._

A chat notification was present on his lockscreen.

_Hey Theo! Are you still coming to the park this afternoon?_

It was from June.

A relieved sigh escaped his lips. June was okay. Nothing in his dream was real. 

The boy opened his phone and started typing,

 _Yeah. I'll be there._

Once the message was sent, he rested his back against the wall. His dream lingering in his mind.

It felt real. _Too_ real. But he's glad it was all just a dream. 

The brunette shrugged it off before he got out of bed and started getting himself ready for his and June's hangout.

——

 _'August 14th at 12 afternoon_

_Not a single cloud had stained the sky_

_so bright and blue'_

Theo glanced at his phone. It was 12pm. The sky was clear and sunny. The typical summer weather.

The two of them sat on the swings, slowly swaying as the calm wind moved them back and forth.

_'My mind was shaken to the core by cicadas loudly singing out of tune_

_But you know, is all this really how it goes?'_

He had ignored all of what June was saying as his mind flashed pieces of his dream. 

Usually dreams would stay for merely a few minutes until it fades away, forgotten. But this dream stayed with him up until now.

The cicadas around them were buzzing loudly. It was annoying to say the least but it helped him get distracted from his own mind. 

The cat June had found on the streets laid in his arms while he continued to talk about random things. 

"We should go." Theo suggested as he got up from his swing.

June looked up at him and nodded, carefully getting up from his swing while cradling the cat in his arms.

As they walked, June informed him of the cat's name. 

"Do you think Tune is a good name for him, bro?"

 _Tune?_ _Wait.._

Theo's blue eyes widened as he stared at the other. 

_Why..why did it feel like he heard of that name before?_

_"Okay! I'll keep Tune!"_

He shaked his head and saw that June had a confused look on his face. He smiled and waved it off, "S-sorry. I just realized something. It's a good name, June." A lame excuse but the other didn't pry and they continued walking.

 _'It was just yesterday, I had a really strange kind of dream of us two on this road_ '

The both of them stopped at a familiar street. Tune leaped out of June's arms. The familiar sense of deja vu hitting the brunette like a brick.

Before June could even run after the cat, Theo held him tight by his wrist. 

June stopped at his tracks and looked at him with a confused expression on his face.

" _No, I think it’s time we’re going home"_ The brunette muttered with a serious expression on his face.

This can't be. It's the same street. The cat leaped out of his arms. It all hit him with a strong sense of deja vu.

"But what about Tu—"

"June, they'll come back. I'm sure of it. Come on,"

_'And then the second that we turned around_

_On the street going down_

_There were screams as something fell upon us running bellow'_

The two of them turned and walked to another road. It was filled with people, all looking and pointing up with scared looks on their faces.

Theo looked up as his eyes widened. Before he knew it, June had gone ahead of him just when the cord that held a stack of pipes snapped. 

_'All around the pipes they all were falling down_

_As they broke through your body pressed into the ground_ '

"JUNE WAIT—"

A pipe directly went through June's stomach like a pin cushion. The others continued to fall, breaking the road and inflicting it with holes.

Theo covered his ears from the loud clanging of metal. His eyes closing shut cringing at the intensity.

_'Chimes of a summer day had mixed with the ripping pain_

_The screams and the agony I couldn’t burn away_ '

After all that, June's screams of agony were the only things he heard. The boy's body on the ground impaled on a pole. Orange green eyes staring at him as he slowly bled to his death. 

Theo ran to him, trying to get through the poles that blocked his path with his hand reaching out to him, tears present in his eyes.

_'Laughing on as if it all was just a game_

_As his eyes shining bright pierced deftly through the haze'_

The version of him watched in amusement as Theo struggled. The cat sitting by his feet.

Why?

Just why?

Why does it have to be June?

Theo cried out to the orange haired boy. The pipes gave way but the clone of him pushed him back.

_'Light fading out of sight I turned to what’s left behind_

_The thought alone there had given me a peace of mind'_

"No. NO!" 

He yelled, catching a glimpse of June. He mouthed something he couldn't quite understand with a weak smile on his face despite the blood dripping out.

"JUNE!" 

—

_'Time again my heart was swallowed by the heat_

_As you died a thousand times just barely out of reach'_

The never-ending cycle of death continued. Theo tried each and every time to save June only to no avail.

How many times did he try?

20? 50? 200?

How many times did he have to get to stop seeing those lifeless orange green eyes of June's?

How many times will they have to do to stop this torture?

His tired eyes stared at the last clean clock that seemed to hold the same destiny as his hand rested on it.

He looked up at the wall of clocks with motionless hands, all smeared with blood. The proof of his fruitless struggle of saving his beloved friend.

_'Tens of years it seems we never win'_

The brunette lost track of time. It felt like a decade had passed when the cycle had only been ongoing for more than 10 years.

He was losing hope at this point. 

He wanted to save June. 

He wants him to live.

_'But in truth I know the story ends where it begins'_

Theo glanced at the first try he did. The scene before him was him reaching out to grab June away from the truck's impact.

For how many times he tried, maybe this time. He'll succeed.

_'In this story that's as simple as it seems_

_There was only ever just this ending we could reach'_

He thought about it. Maybe things will go right this time. Maybe.. just this once. He can save him.

_'Somewhere far beyond this summer day again we'll meet'_

And with that, he put down his hand and pushed himself forward. Entering the time before June got hit.

_'Suddenly I push you out from the street_

_While the truck bearing down had trampled all the heat'_

He pulled June back and sent himself forward. He turned, smiling at him as the truck made contact with his body.

_'Shocked you had turned to me the blood dripping agony_

_It strangled your mind as you had cried so helplessly'_

This time, Theo's blood painted the surroundings. All decorating the area in splatters of red.

He could see June's shocked expression, tears falling down his cheeks as he watched with horror.

Despite the pain that struck him, he felt relieved.

Because June isn't the one dying this time.

_'Laughing on the spite has clouded up my eyes_

_It's the game you had made it only serves you right'_

Theo could see the cat and the clone of himself with the same shocked expression as June on the other side. He laughed internally as he broke the cycle. Finally. It was over.

With a mocking smile, he mouthed something to the feline and the clone.

_You lose._

_'Praying it all would end I looked to your side again_

_The summer days each had withered all away then'_

Before he fell unconscious, a clone of June looked up at him with a plain expression on its face. The realization hitting him when it was too late.

 _Wait!_

His eyes widened and everything faded to black.

——

The wall with supposedly smeared clocks were all broken and changed to a light blue color. The last whole clock was smashed by an unknown being.

_No more second chances for you._

——

_'August 14 at 12 afternoon there the boy awoke again the sky still burning blue_

_What an ugly hue'_

June shot up, breathing heavily. He just dreamed about Theo..dying? No..but it can't be..

Tears glazed his eyes as a few dropped down his cheeks. 

" _Guess I failed again_.." 

Theo wasn't supposed to die.

 _'He had cried as he pet the cat that softly clung onto his side_ '

Tune, his cat nuzzled his hand as he pet it in hopes of comforting the mournful boy. He let out a shaky breath and broke into a sob.

 _"Let's try again, shall we?_ "

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you all enjoyed this! I'm sorry if it's a little rushed for the fact that I wrote this so late at night.
> 
> Follow me on twt @rosepr1nce. Kudos are appreciated 💜


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